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Congratulations to Belle Vue in winning the Play Off Final. The atmosphere on the night was electric, and credit has to be given to the Aces supporters who turned out in numbers. Its a pity the camera's did not capture the atmosphere, as I can tell you the atmosphere was there. The Aces supporters celebrated Polish style with smoke bombs and flares, which I did not mind apart from the smell, which smelt like dog rubbish. The referee decisions were in my opinion mostly correct after looking at the replays on the phone. I think Belle Vue came into the meeting to simply defend the 12 point lead and frustrate the Tigers, and we were chasing the in the meeting all night. But cannot fault our riders who put in 100% effort, but the Aces were just to good for us over the two legged final, and the signing of Robert Lambert as I suspected swung the advantage to Belle Vue. We now move onto the League Cup Final as consolation winning silverware against Kings Lynn so we are still in with a chance of winning something. Finally for me the Play Off's should stay, the tension and excitement that they create means they should stay.

One of the nicest guys in speedway, has been severely unfortunate in his career, always seems to get bad injuries. With a family to think of, I think it’s the right call. All the best Sarj

Maybe make this into a knockout round robin... first leg at Glasgow, they can throw it get knocked out, the 2nd leg at Leicester, vs Poole, we get knocked out and then Poole can ride their home leg against nobody gloriously winning the trophy in front of a packed Wimborne Road, waving their phones about to Sweet Caroline being played over the PA

Which is far better than the so called premiership

From a very reliable source who I will not reveal I will be amazed if complin signs for any southern team as the travelling from North Yorkshire is just to far and costly.

Maybe THREE trophies could be given out...? The team that "wins the league" BEFORE the play offs gets one... The team that actually "wins the league" in the play offs obviously will get one.. And the team that "wins the league" AFTER the league has already been won (twice), gets one... Would make a great end to the season and mean potentially 50% of all the teams can become "Champions".. A 'Win/Win' if you like... Or a 'Win/Win/Win' in UK Speedways case. They could even run a special 3 way "Ultimate Champions" play off before November with a leg of the final held at each track... I am sure there wouldnt be an issue fitting the dates in as one team will obviously pull out, like seems to happen in 3 way finals....

Post of the year. Incredible sportsmanship, and I know how much it hurts, but to lose and be this gracious will make it all the better when you eventually win the top flight title, which you will. Huge respect.

The only way we can see if Belle vue could beat Sheffield without Lambert in the side is to go back to the 4 league matches we have ridden against each other this season. Home and away first meetings Belle vue on agg won 94 to 86 .On the second meetings Sheffield won 93 to 87. Thats one each add all the scores together to get a winner and the score is 181 to 179 in favour of belle vue another just 2 point win so we kinda beat you three times on aggregate.

Will that be r/r at 1 or guest

Can anyone provide a single example in the history of speedway when a race non-finisher was awarded three points for a race win, ahead of two other riders who had legitimately finished the race?

Someone has started on the alcopops early.

I'd like to see the Cook brothers at Leicester, they'd be wasting their time, treading water down in the CL... maybe offer them a contact before the CL pay offs this coming Friday? Some exchange deal with Joe Thompson & Max Clegg maybe?

Except you ard ignoring the rulebook that clearly states the result of a race can not be changed once declared. And secondly these are simply decisions where you disagree with that of the referee.

Maybe paying for three meetings from one home leg is the issue? Especially for Glasgow as not many Poole or Leicester fans will be in attendance I would think.. Especially given the way the competition has been devalued by the way it has been allowed to drift on without the clear priority and focus any "Final" of a competition should have been given..

Oh yeah... forgot, you guys are still down in the CL

I thought the heat 3 decision was wrong and should have been all 4 back but on reflection over the two meetings Sheffield didn't lose because of the referee, Holder and Howarth were to blame, Howarth was particularly poor at Sheffield and Holder seems to not be too clever at times and was outsmarted by Kurtz, you can't expect Kurtz not to fight for his position just because you are friends, it seemed obvious what Kurtz was going to do and Holder should have seen it coming.

Danny king has been doing it since April!

IF the final(s) are abandoned will Glasgow, Leicester and Poole be fined for not completing their fixtures? Nothing would surprise me in British Speedway any more. This has been another season of embarrassment with a team running 99% without their signed No1, another signing a British Champion knowing he wouldn't be there for long, a team dropping out, a team signing a GP rider for 3 meeting in the quest for silverware and who know what other own goals?

Mikebv has put his finger on it there! As a died-in-the-wool Tigers fan for 56 years, I'm actually glad to see Belle Vue win the title, for the simple reason that it highlights the sheer hypocrisy and corruption of the ruling authorities in allowing a rider who has shunned British racing for three years in pursuit of personal treasure to suddenly turn up for three matches in the colours of a team for which he has no past or present connection and have the audacity to collect a champion's medal on the rostrum. A "ringer" by any definition. Surely the authorities will now be shamed into ensuring no such aberration will ever occur in the future. As for the real championship, whichever team wins the Sheffield v Ipswich tie two weeks' time can hold its heads high and rightly claim to be the season's champions - an accolade won over the course of twenty matches home and away and without recourse to underhand and devious chicanery, the stench of which will always hang around this alleged Belle Vue "victory".

Berwick have done a lot of good work putting in a pathway from Duns to NJL to National League to Championship then hopefully onwards for riders. It's slowly starting to bear fruit now. They deserve a lot of credit for it.

Birmingham?? Try Ellesmere Port!

Still makes a total mockery of this circus,,,, a meeting that potentially could change who finishes top thus changing who faces who in the play offs,,, after the play offs. Absolute joke

Sheffield Heat Leaders.. 18 off 14 rides in leg one.. 25 off 14 rides in leg two.. 43 off 28 rides in total.. And that includes a gifted 5 points in Heat Fifteen of leg two which was a dead rubber.. A collective average of 6.14 for the three Sheffield HL's.. And some still suggest it was 100% the refs fault that the Tigers lost...

Maybe you could teach your own team manager!!

So Craig Cook banned from riding in the individual at Edinburgh tonight

Glasgow were excellent pre Covid including a film of the 2019 season. I gather the young man who did that has gone on to bigger things. Redcar have been very good for a number of seasons. Berwick similarly are very good. Eastbourne were very good prior to their closing. Edinburgh are excellent and hopefully they'll find a way to stay open or reopen in 2019.

However some clubs are getting better. Poole been a lot better since Dan Ford been doing day to day running of the club

I am afraid it’s commonplace amongst speedway clubs in general, the communication is generally poor to its supporters.

The BSPL could have fined him but no let's short change the public.

I know, pretty good eh... perhaps i should take over northern team management duties from Havvy? I can speak English and everything!

And if Musielak had just fell on his own but it meant the race to be stopped, and then Kurtz's engine blew after the red light had come on, therefore meaning he didnt cross the line, the race would have been awarded to Brady as he was leading (under power) at the time of the stoppage... As with all awarded races... You dont have to cross the line to win it...

Not with those two teams... I would have hoped they'd both lose....

That simply depends on why the ref excluded Tobias. If she excluded him for hitting Brady, which he did and I don't think is disputed, then at that point Brady was at worst in second place. In accordance with the rules, Tobias was excluded and the others promoted one place at the time of the cause of the exclusion. Simple

I'm chuffed to see Danny winning things - even if it is with Poole! A great human being as well as a whole hearted racer

I would imagine Lawson is already signed up for 2023 - 7.97 average is a bargain for him.

If the Sheffield round doesn't get run then those that ordered the £49 pairs package for the streaming will need a refund as the price was based on 6 meetings

Yes and he looked to make sure he was far enough in front.

A Poole 2023 thread... sounds like you've already given up on 2022!

As a neutral I found it entertaining but if I’d have been a fan of either team I’d have been annoyed with some of the decisions over the 2 meetings. The inclusion of Lambert is another debate and for me personally it should have been somebody who’d ridden here all season or at least bothered with the British final , not turning up on these shores once your meetings have dried up and it suits but like I say that’s just my personal take on that one. Speedway in general seems hell bent on excluding riders, some racing incidents don’t always warrant an exclusion yet somebody has to be excluded? As paying public we want to see hard racing and fair racing, in these circumstances it would be great to see an option where the ref could put all 4 back In but it will never happen and we’d probably have about 7 re-runs per meeting and with curfew times it would be a nightmare but it really does annoy me when a great race stopped by a rut that’s fired a rider off the bike or close racing and somebody comes off. Sometimes exclusions are as clear as day but for a referee to have no option to put all 4 back in is one thing I’d certainly like to see changed, I mean where does the first bend bunching rule actually end?

Maybe not but nobody knows the reasoning behind pulling out. To be honest it will be kept in house and rightly so.

But an accurate conversion rate to reflect real life would be: Champ average = (1.054 x Prem av) + 1.75 [Linear regression*] * I tried r squared and logarithmic correlations but neither gave a significantly better fit.

Legend

When all the dust has settled, and the trophies were handed out, at the end of the day Sheffield had their chance and they blew it. Plain and simple. Do not try to blame the ref. She was the one making the decisions, and she called it as she saw it. Deal with it, and accept defeat with grace and dignity.

I would like to see Max Fricke replace him...

That was the oddest decision I ever remember. Kurtz was awarded 3 points whilst laid on his back on the fourth bend, whilst three riders had passed the finishing line ahead of him. If the referee reckoned Tobi had cheated and deserved exclusion, surely the race should either have a) been re-run with three riders, or b) awarded to Belle Vue as a 3 - 2 victory. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems odd to base the score on the assumption that Kurtz would have won had he not fallen off. Passing the finishing line first is usually the criterion for the awarding of 3 points.

Max Fricke scored 9 and 10 on his two visits to Sheffield this season, and Robert Lambert got 10. Hardly game-changing. Yes, he got a max at Belle Vue, but if I were a Sheffield fan I'd be looking at your own riders' performances as opposed to looking for excuses. Jack Holder only scoring 2? That's where you lost it.

Not if you’ve paid for a season ticket. You’d be pretty pi$$ed off if you’d paid for the meeting and it didn’t take place.

The biggest thrill of speedway is a dam good close race with a few good passes to get the blood pumping we love it.Its why we go to the speedway its why people come back time and again its why a newby will come back again. So, what do a lot of promoters do cut corners on the most important thing in speedway the track. They buy crap cheaper shale some don't seem to maintain the track as well as they should and then the racing suffers, and they then wonder why the crowds are down. It's sad to see a once thriving sport keep shooting itself in the foot.

As a family we chose not to let Luke get an average and certainly wouldn't of been swayed by any club dictating about the volume of meetings he would or wouldn't compete in . Our decisions are based on his development

A 6 team league and still unable to organise and fufill outstanding fixtures is shocking really